Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. This wider meaning may still be encountered in informal use.
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014 and the CBS talk program The Late Show with Stephen Colbert beginning in September 2015.
Ralph Vary Chamberlin was an American biologist, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish the School of Medicine and served as its first dean, and later became head of the zoology department. He also taught at Brigham Young University and the University of Pennsylvania, and worked for over a decade at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, where he described species from around the world.
The Reverend Sir Dr. Stephen T. Mos Def Colbert D.F.A., Heavyweight Champion of the World, or Stephen Colbert, is the fictionalized persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on the Comedy Central series The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and occasionally on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot" and a "self-important right-wing commentator", the character incorporates aspects of the real Colbert's life and interests but is primarily a parody of cable news pundits, particularly former Fox News prime time host Bill O'Reilly.
Ballooning, sometimes called kiting, is a process by which spiders, and some other small invertebrates, move through the air by releasing one or more gossamer threads to catch the wind, causing them to become airborne at the mercy of air currents and electric fields. A 2018 study concluded that electric fields provide enough force to lift spiders in the air, and possibly elicit ballooning behavior. This is primarily used by spiderlings to disperse; however, larger individuals have been observed doing so as well. The spider climbs to a high point and takes a stance with its abdomen to the sky, releasing fine silk threads from its spinneret until it becomes aloft. Journeys achieved vary from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres. Even atmospheric samples collected from balloons at five kilometres altitude and ships mid-ocean have reported spider landings. Ballooning can be dangerous.
May Roberta Berenbaum is an American entomologist whose research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants, and the implications of these interactions on the organization of natural communities and the evolution of species. She is particularly interested in nectar, plant phytochemicals, honey and bees, and her research has important implications for beekeeping.
David Mark Hillis is an American evolutionary biologist, and the Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is best known for his studies of molecular evolution, phylogeny, and vertebrate systematics. He created the popular Hillis Plot depiction of the evolutionary tree of life.
Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi is a species of spider in the family Euctenizidae, described in 2007 by East Carolina University professor of biology Jason E. Bond and Norman I. Platnick, curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is named after Canadian rock musician Neil Young.
Myrmekiaphila is a genus of North American mygalomorph trapdoor spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by G. F. Atkinson in 1886. All described species are endemic to the southeastern United States.
Aptostichus stephencolberti is a species of spider in the family Euctenizidae, named after the American satirist Stephen Colbert. The spider was discovered on the California coastline in 2007.
Aptostichus is a genus of North American mygalomorph spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1891. They are found predominantly in southern California, United States.
Aptostichus angelinajolieae, the Angelina Jolie trapdoor spider, is a species of Euctenizidae, nocturnal arthropods who seize their prey after leaping out of their burrows and inject it with venom. It was described by the Auburn University professor Jason Bond in 2008, who named it after the American actress Angelina Jolie in recognition of her work on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. It was one of only seven described species of Aptostichus until 2012, when it was joined by Bono's Joshua Tree trapdoor spider and 32 other species.
The Colbert Report, which premiered in American cable television on October 17, 2005, has had a massive cultural impact since its inception. Issues in and references to American and world culture are attributed to the character played by Stephen Colbert, who calls his followers the Colbert Nation. The Colbert Report is a late-night talk and satirical news program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot," is a caricature of televised political pundits. The show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor. The Colbert Report is a spin-off of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005.
Aptostichus miwok is a species of spiders in the family Euctenizidae named after the Coast Miwok Indian tribe known to have inhabited the coastal areas of California from the Golden Gate northward prior to European settlement. It is similar to the Aptostichus angelinajolieae named after actress Angelina Jolie and Aptostichus stephencolberti named after satirist Stephen Colbert described by the same author.
Wayne Paul Maddison, is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the departments of zoology and botany at the University of British Columbia, and the Director of the Spencer Entomological Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
Aptostichus bonoi, or Bono's Joshua Tree trapdoor spider, is a morphological species of Euctenizidae spiders, nocturnal arthropods who seize their prey after leaping out of their burrows and inject it with venom. The species was found in Joshua Tree National Park, California, and described by the Auburn University professor Jason Bond in 2012. Only seven species of Aptostichus were known prior to 2012, including the Angelina Jolie trapdoor spider.
Aptostichus barackobamai, the Barack Obama trapdoor spider, is a species of spider in the family Euctenizidae named after the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. The species was first reported by Professor Jason Bond of Auburn University in December 2012 as one of 33 new species of the genus Aptostichus.
The Euctenizidae are a family of mygalomorph spiders. They are now considered to be more closely related to Idiopidae.
Rosemary Gillespie is an evolutionary biologist and professor of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, Division of Insect Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She was the President of the American Genetics Association in 2018 and was previously President of the International Biogeography Society 2013–2015. From 2011 to 2013 she had served at the president of the American Arachnological Society. As of 2020 she is the faculty director of the Essig Museum of Entomology and a Professor and Schlinger Chair in systematic entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. Gillespie is known for her work on the evolution of communities on hotspot archipelagoes.
Henry Yemisi Fadamiro is a Nigerian-American entomologist and academic administrator with research into chemical and physiological mechanisms of plant-insect and tritrophic interactions. He is the co-founder of the International Association of Black Entomologists, IABE. He is a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, and member of the National Academy of Inventors.
